Snapshots from our walk...

Rosie spies the water!!!  And she's off!!!

A few games of fetch with a stick:

Best of friends:

Scenes from the dog park....

Where's the bone???

Sam and Rosie found a big hole at the dog park last Monday and of course HAD to climb down in it to investigate :)  

After a long hot dry spell, it was cold and drizzly on Monday....6c....but I wasn't feeling well and thought the fresh air would do me good, so Sam and I had headed out for a walk.  It was a nice walk despite the cold and wet weather.....by the time I got home though I was feeling ill and had to climb in the bath which is where I started being sick :(  

Homeschool news....

Homeschooling continues as normal...Abigail has been doing quite a bit of math - fractions and multiplications...she has been doing a social project on Canada - we looked at the grade 3 and 4 books but they seemed boring and not very relevant so we went with the grade 2 book which is all about Provinces and capital cities etc.  We thought it was interesting that Canada has half the population of the whole of the UK, even though the UK is only the size of Alberta!!!

One of the books we got was a Grade 5 - 8 book on writing book reports.  Although its a little ahead of Abigails grade level, it looked really interesting and Abigail loved the idea of learning how to write in depth book reports and learning more about plots, settings, characters etc etc...

Sam got a new Grade 1 math book which started off REALLY simple for him with work that he was doing a year ago, but I thought might be good for him to go over again anyway...it was nice to see that despite only being in kindergarten, he is already doing really well in math considering his Dad says he will never learn anything if he doesn't go to school ;)  and that he hasn't done anything all year ;)

One morning last week while I wasn't well, the kids brought their books onto my bed and decided to study there....cookies, books and coziness :)

We have quite a few field trips planned in the next few weeks which I'm really looking forward to :)  I still haven't heard from my facilitator about our year end meeting.  Which also means we haven't signed for the upcoming year!  I really would like to do that as soon as possible.  

As I look back over the last school year, I am REALLY pleased and proud of the childrens progress.  I think they have done really well and learned sooooo much!!  The way they have matured is amazing and  their skills in many areas are so wonderful :)  It could have been a very difficult and stressful year, but thanks to homeschooling, a flexible plan, a wonderful facilitator and a lovely relaxed lifestyle, it has been a great year and as stress free as possible for the children and because of that, they have grown in many wonderful ways.

Typing...

Abigail has wanted a typewrite for a long while now....since watching 'You've Got Mail' I think....

So last week a friend of mine, Trish, kindly gave us one.  She wasn't sure if it actually worked, but we set it all up and had a got at figuring it out.  It needed new ink as the ink had dried out, so I picked some of that up and we still couldn't get it to work, so Abigail spent ages trying to figure out what was up with it - she googled the make and model and learned all kinds of neat things about how they are made.

She then figured out how to fix it!!!  :)  

Yay Abigail well done you!!!

Horse Show

Yesterday we went to watch part of the local horse show.  There wasn't much happening there at the time, so we didn't stay too long, but we did watch a display about different riding techniques and also a display on breaking in horses...

It survived!!!

Our caterpillar survived!!  On Friday night, late, I was SURE I saw the chrysalis wobbling on its own, but everyone else said I was imagining it, so I thought maybe I had knocked the cupboard.....but sure enough, Saturday morning...there was the butterfly out of the chrysalis :)  YAY!!!  It was still a bit bloody and icky and there was a fair bit of blood on the bottom of the bug cage....not a shock any more as we have done this several years running now.....

It is now Sunday and we have kept the butterfly until today as Last night was a frost warning and yesterday was very windy.....so today we will let it go :)  

Another successful year of butterfly raising :)  

xxx

If you have never done this before with your children I really recommend it - you can buy the caterpillars from education stores or order them on line from several places - just google butterfly larvae kits around March/ April time to get your orders in....(Alberta)  Other places of course would depend when Spring/ warm weather starts...then all you need is something to keep your Caterpillar/ butterfly in - like a big pickle jar or something - or many toy stores sell bug houses now too :)  You can even put caterpillars in that you find from the garden....Add a stick/ something for them to hang from as a chrysalis and their food (google what to feed them depending on the type of caterpillar - store bought/ ordered caterpillars come with their own food) and you are ready to go!!

Getting to know you Sunday.....

1. would you rather go on a picnic or to a bbq?  A picnic.  I'm not that keen on grilled food, burgers, hotdogs etc....and much prefer picnics :)  Although I love the social gathering side of things :)  

2. would you rather go bra-less or panty-less?  Bra-less which is another reason I want my boobs done - so I CAN go bra-less!!  I think not wearing undies is kind of gross....but I do have friends that don't wear them...each to their own lol!

3. would you rather go on a $5000 shopping spree at your favorite store or go on a $5000 vacation?  A vacation.  

4. would you rather eat escargot or sauteed crickets?   I've tried both already, so it wouldn't bother me to have either.

5. would you rather go on survivor or the amazing race?  I have never watched either show so I don't really know what either show is about.  I am guessing from what I have heard from others though, that I would prefer The Amazing Race.

6. would you rather be hot or cold?  HOT!!!!!  Most definitely hot :)  I don't like being cold.

7. would you rather go to the beach or lake?  Either is lovely....so long as there are few people :)

8. would you rather not shave your legs for a month in the summer or your armpits?  eewwwww....neither!!  I shave almost daily as much as possible!!  Yes I'm single and yes I do it for ME...I just like the smooth look and feel all year long!  If I have to choose I'd say armpits because of sweating and smell I guess...but eeeww a month of hairy legs :(  Not good!!!